


Almost Me

by Enigmatic_Stardust



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Because I can, Blood and Injury, Chapters will include CW if need be, Gen, I wanted to follow the trend of making DP more mature and dark so here we are, Violence, nonbinary danny phantom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23673049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigmatic_Stardust/pseuds/Enigmatic_Stardust
Summary: "Danny looked back at the portal, stuffing his hands into his pockets. This thing was going to be the bane of his existence. He could feel it. Tomorrow at school was going to suck all because his parents had to try and show off. Normally people “kindly” forgot about his parent’s abnormal obsession with ghosts. Now their attention was going to rekindle and all of those questions would be directed towards him.Unless….Unless he did something about it."An AU where Danny never made friends with Sam or Tucker and is forced to face his transformation into the Phantom on his own.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 219





	1. Feeling More Human

**Author's Note:**

> So a few quick notes about this AU before we start:
> 
> > Universe is updated so it takes place in "our time" so to speak instead of the early 2000s  
> > Characters are aged up a bit to better accommodate darker themes  
> > Powers may be consolidated and changed to better suit the universe and make better logical sense

Of course, his parents volunteered themselves for career day tours. They took every opportunity they could to share the “world of ghost hunting” with the next generation. After sixteen years, he liked to say he was used to it. Standing deadpan behind the rest of his class, watching his dad, Jack, wave around some vacuum-like invention before accidentally sucking off some of his hair, Danny let himself dissolve into a bliss of ‘this is fine’ while his classmates laughed. 

“As you see, sometimes our inventions need some fine-tuning,” his mother, Maddie, stepped in, “Like this one over here. Any ideas about what it might be?”

They’d been working on this one for months. At the far end of the lab, their latest device looked like something out of Stargate, but less streamlined. The rugged exterior arch was a medley of different sheets of metal held together by Frankenstein soldering. Inside, wires curled across the floor and interior walls. 

“This,” Maddy continued after no one offered a guess, “Is the Fenton Portal!”

A few snorts and snide whispers.

“What’s it going to do?” A surly looking girl with short cut black hair asked.

“This’ll punch a hole right into the Ghost Zone!” Jack shouted, jumping in and smacking the side of the portal. “As soon as we get it to work.”

“Does anything here actually work?” 

This question came from one of the few kids who actually acknowledged him. Tucker Foley would have been the whiz kid at school if he actually applied himself. Most of the time though he used his energy to play video games and create chaos for the school’s websites and internal systems. He and Danny had been friends, once, a lifetime ago in elementary school. Middle school saw them drifting and by high school, they barely acknowledged each other in the hallway.

“Once we work out the bugs it’ll be revolutionary,” Maddie said with what she probably hoped was a winning smile. 

“Everyone knows ghosts aren’t real,” the surly girl said, “You should put your resources and funding into something more productive like creating things that are easier to recycle or just...anything other than this.”

There was a general mumbling that wasn’t really agreement or disagreement. 

“So it doesn’t do anything?” Tucker pressed. “That’s lame.”

“Well, it  _ is _ an ongoing experiment. Come on, let me show you a few other successful projects of ours and then we’ll take questions.” 

“Do you even have anything successful? My dad says you guys are just a joke stealing valuable grant money,” one of the popular girls, Valerie, chimed in.

“That depends on your perspective,” Maddie said in a tight voice, “Now if you’ll follow me to the next room…”

“This is so stupid.”

“Imagine having to live with parents like this! And I thought my dad was crazy!”

“No wonder Fenton’s so weird…”

“I’m surprised they haven’t blown up the town yet with these stupid things. Seriously how are they allowed to do this?”

“I’ll talk to my dad about it. He’s in security.”

The barrage of comments continued as the group left. Danny stayed behind. No one noticed him. He supposed the irony was fitting--the ghost hunter’s kid was practically invisible to the rest of the world. He liked it that way. When he was younger he wanted attention. He was determined to “get in” with the cool kids when he started high school. After a few too many bad encounters with his old bully Dash and a general lack of support from the teachers regarding that matter, he decided it was just better to stay quiet. If he was quiet, his parents didn’t pry too much in his business. They fawned over his sister Jazz and left him alone. As long as he kept his grades relatively above average (too high and that would draw unwanted attention) and didn’t get into trouble, he could skirt by until college.

Danny looked back at the portal, stuffing his hands into his pockets. This thing was going to be the bane of his existence. He could feel it. Tomorrow at school was going to suck all because his parents had to try and show off. Normally people “kindly” forgot about his parent’s abnormal obsession with ghosts. Now their attention was going to rekindle and all of those questions would be directed towards him.

_ Unless…. _

Unless he did something about it.

He’d learned a decent bit about wiring and general engineering tricks over the years. It sort of came with the territory of being the son of scientists. Given his dream of becoming an astronaut, it had made sense for him to pick up practical knowledge as well. 

He glanced back at the room where he could just hear his dad prattling on about ghosts. That would give him a solid fifteen minutes to work. Normally his parents wouldn’t let him or his sister near the prototype portal, even though Jazz at the very least had solved a number of their technical problems in the past.

Time was of the essence. Danny went to grab a white work’s jumpsuit, pulling it on over his jeans. It was too big, so he tied the sleeves around his waist in hopes of keeping the jumpsuit mostly up. He then grabbed a pair of gloves and swapped out his shoes for boots. He gave the doorway one final check before picking up goggles, putting them on, and then grabbing a torch and heading in. 

As predicted, it was a mess inside of the prototype. He almost tripped multiple times on the tubes and wires lining the floor. Where should he even begin here? 

He started with the big picture. His parents always had a habit of getting carried away and making a chicken out of a feather when it came to problems. Sometimes, there were simple solutions. Sure enough, towards the back of the portal, he saw that a plug had slipped out of the socket. Danny slipped the plug back in and then started to head back out of the portal. He was nearly out when his boot caught on one of the taut wires and he tripped. Danny reached out, trying to grab onto the wall. 

Then everything went green.

It reminded him of the time he grabbed an electric fence at his aunt’s farm, only hundreds of times worse. The energy seared into his bones, burrowing deep into every fiber, every bit of sinew until there was nothing else. 

When his senses finally dimmed and he came to, he felt like he was floating. It reminded him of the in-between space between sleep and waking. The pain was gone, and he felt comfortable, if cold. Light swirled around him in a green mist. The occasional lance of lightning arc across his closed lids.

He opened his eyes. Ten feet in front of him, the portal pulsed with life. 


	2. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, thanks for the reception on the first chapter! I hope chapter two works well for you!
> 
> I'll probably end up sketching Danny's costume at some point since I imagine it a bit different in this version. Hartman's has more of a classic superhero vibe to it and I wanted to go with something a little more casual.
> 
> cw: mild panic attack

The green glow swirled around the room. For a moment, Danny thought he was back at the aquarium. The way the light bounced off the walls in strange ripples reminded him of the shark tunnels. He stared up at the ceiling, slowly letting his senses meet his consciousness. A gentle “woo...wooo...woo” met his ears. It was a strange hum that seemed to echo through his bones.

He sat up slowly, propping himself up onto his elbows. The rest of the room was dark. Even the side room where his classmates had gone was pitch black and empty. Nothing. Danny carefully got to his feet. He tried to push down the panic that was beginning to bubble in his stomach.

“Hey? Anyone here?” Silence. “Mom? Dad?”

Danny bit his lower lip. Upstairs. They were probably upstairs. He turned on heel and ran up the steps to the first level.

Empty. 

The panic was setting in properly now, coming in hot waves. The whole house was dark--no, not just the house. Outside of the window, he saw the entire block was out.

“Mom!” he shouted.

He ran upstairs to the bedrooms. All closed.

He needed space to breathe and think.

Danny ran to his room, yanked open the door, and slammed it behind him. He leaned against the door and shut his eyes. He tilted his head back, telling himself to breathe. 

And like that, it was as if the sound turned back on. He heard his mom laughing downstairs, his dad talking loudly about something, and even Jazz’s frustrated grumble about having to listen to it. Danny opened his eyes. The lights were on. The entire house was alive again.

Hands trembling, he carefully opened the door and peered out. Sure enough, he could see the orange glow from the lights downstairs. The smell of dinner cooking wafted up the steps, carried along with the jovial chatter of his family.

Danny edged out of his room and walked shakily to the bathroom and then turned on the faucet. He cupped the water into his hands and brought it up to his face, washing away the sweat. As he wiped the water from his face, his expression in the mirror stared haunted back at him.

His skin had a clammy look to it and dark circles framed his almost too blue eyes. His gaze flicked up and he swore, stumbling back from his reflection. 

His normally jet black hair had a dense stock of white running through the bangs. 

“Danny, dinner!”

He startled and slammed the door shut.

“Ah, just a...minute? I’m not feeling well!”

He heard footsteps heading up the stairs. Danny reached back and locked the door just in time. The handle jiggled, followed by a soft thump on the other side of the door.

“Danny...we’ve talked about locking doors.” His mother’s voice was persuasive, not angry.

“Yeah, yeah, look, can I skip dinner tonight? I’m  _ really _ not feeling well.”

There was a pause. “What’s going on Danny? You’ve been gone for hours. Where did you go?”

He’d been gone for hours? 

Why hadn’t anyone noticed him in the basement? 

“Ah, my room?”

“We checked? Do we need to have a special kind of talk?”

“What? No! I’m seriously just not feeling well!”

“Well...ok. I’m here if you need me.”

He waited until he was sure she was downstairs before he left the bathroom and hurried back to his room. It all had to be a weird dream, right? Some sort of optical migraine. Danny flopped down onto the bed face first, trying to ignore it all. Surely when he woke up everything would be normal again, right? His hair would be all black, his parents wouldn’t notice he’d messed with the portal, and it would all be fine.

It was not fine.

His morning started with a loud lecture about bleaching his own hair and a “talk” about birds, bees, and substance abuse. It was a relief to head to school for once, or at least, it was almost a relief.

“Fenton! The fuck did you do to your hair?”

Dash Baxter sauntered up to him, his upper lip curling a bit into a snide grin.

“Don’t you have more important things to do? I heard there were some freshmen looking to be stuffed in lockers.”

“Maybe later. Right now, I’m interested in you and your weirdo family.”

Danny backed towards the locker. Dash pressed forward, leering down at him.

“Well I’m sure if you have any questions regarding my family’s work they’d be happy to send you some of their research publications--” 

He slammed his hand against the locker.“Don’t fuck with me. You look like they Frankensteined you or something.”

“Ah yes, Frankenstein,” came a surprisingly gentle, if sardonic voice. “Baxter, you wouldn’t happen to know the full plot of that, would you?”

Mr. Lancer walked up, a soft smile on his face. Dash reluctantly removed his hand from the locker. He tried to put on what he must have assumed was a winning smile, but Mr. Lancer’s expression only intensified. Dash, despite the obvious height and weight class difference, backed down.

“I didn’t think so. Get to class. Fenton, a word?”

“I have to get to class too though--”

“I’ll give you a note. Come on, it won’t take long.”

Danny sighed, trying to ignore Dash’s look of hatred towards him before he followed after Lancer. He supposed he owed it to him given that he’d probably just saved him from a black eye. 

Lancer’s classroom was empty for first period. It was his one time of the day where he didn’t have students (at least normally). Danny sat across from him, trying not to look too concerned by the way Lancer studied his hair and face.

“Your parents called.”

“Seriously?”

“They said you might be...what’s the phrase? ‘Hanging loose with the wrong peeps’?” 

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Literally not hanging out with anyone. Come on, Mr. Lancer. You know me. Do I spend any time with anyone here? Even the stoner kids ignore me.”

Mr. Lancer gave him a disapproving look, but nodded nonetheless. “I did think their concern was rather strange. Still, do you want to tell me what’s going on? You don’t look very well and Mr. Baxter may have had a point about you looking like a Frankenstein’s monster with the new hair.”

“I kind of messed that one up,” Danny ventured, “Experiment gone wrong.”

“Are you sure that’s all? There’s nothing you want to talk about?”

“I’m fine Mr. Lancer, really. Can I please just go to class now?”

If Danny didn’t know better he’d say that Lancer looked disappointed. The teacher let out a soft sigh and then picked up a pen and one of the hall passes. He wordlessly wrote a pass for Danny and handed it over to him.

“Door’s always open if you change your mind.”

They both knew that wasn’t going to happen.

The day passed agonizingly slow. Between the pokes about his family’s bizarre profession and prods about his hair, it was all he could do not to quite literally run out of the school as soon as the bell rang. He settled for a brisk walk. He hunched over against the late autumn breeze, trying to ignore the cold that had settled into his bones early that morning and refused to leave. Even with his heavier sweatshirt on he couldn’t fight down the shivers that ran through him. His breath pooled in front of his face, a faint mist that vanished with the wind. 

Man, he was tired. That wasn’t so unusual, but today his exhaustion doubled. He staggered up to his room as soon as he got home. He could hear his parents down in the basement, tools ablaze. He settled for pulling a pillow over his head and blocking out the noise as well as he could.

At some point, sleep overtook him, until he woke up with a gasp from empty lungs that couldn’t be sated. His eyes shot open, instinctual panic making him try to draw in the air even as he realized he was in the pitch dark. Danny struggled, but his limbs met no resistance. 

Although he couldn’t consciously see it, he sensed it in the same strange way that he sensed where his limbs were or whether he was up or down. He expected vertigo without sight, but instead, he  _ knew _ he was moving up. Slowly, he floated, passing through the darkness, until suddenly he emerged through the wall of dark and into the bright ectoplasmic glow of the basement.

He looked down from where he’d come.

The floor floated beneath his feet, or rather, where his feet should have been.

This time when he gasped, the air rushed through his lungs and suddenly his body once again popped into existence. He stared down at his floating feet. Boots. He was wearing boots. White ones. His pants were different too. His jeans were gone, replaced by what looked like a black, too large workers jumpsuit with the arms knotted around the waist. The ensemble was uncomfortably familiar and alien at the same time.

Was he dreaming? Danny had had flying dreams before. Usually, he was floating through space though, and they were never nightmares where he couldn’t breathe.

He started to go up once again, floating towards the ceiling. Danny looked up in panic at the rapidly approaching ceiling. He braced for impact, only to once again pass through the ceiling and the floor above.

“Shit!” he choked as he passed through the living room, once more seemingly invisible (he heard his mom yell “No cussing!” as he did) before passing through the ceiling.

As soon as he appeared fully through the floor of his bedroom, the gravity seemed to turn on once again and he gently hit the ground. He looked over towards the long mirror hanging on the back of his door and saw that he had snow-white hair, and glowing green eyes.

Danny walked hauntingly towards the image, reaching a shaky hand out.

“That’s it,” he mumbled, “I’ve gone and fucking died from embarrassment. It’s finally happened.”

As soon as he said this, ring of blue light snapped around his middle and split into two, rushing up towards his head and down towards his feet. The jumpsuit vanished, replaced by his jeans. His eyes returned to blue and his hair inverted once again everywhere, except for the streak.

“Ok. Mostly died.”

Danny leaned towards the mirror and tugged down a little on his eyelids, trying to see if there were any clues to be discerned. He looked normal, or well, mostly normal. There was no ignoring the fact that he looked like he could use a strong cup of coffee, but most high school juniors and seniors looked like that.

His stomach churned, acid biting at the edges. He pushed down the anxiety. Weird dream. It had to be a weird dream.

Even as he thought that, he noticed that his hand had vanished. 

“Gah!” he shouted, waving it around until it popped back into existence. “Wake up, wake up, wake up!”

This didn’t feel like a dream. He experimentally pinched his arm. The pain felt sharp, not like the dull buzz of dream pain.

He looked back up at the mirror. His green eyes glowed warily back at him.

This was very real.


	3. Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got around to writing this up AND drawing Danny's suit for this universe!
> 
> https://familiar-crow.tumblr.com/post/624376530066341888/danny-phantom-from-my-ao3-fic-almost-me-i-wanted

CW: Mentions of death

Danny carefully tugged on his shirt only to have it phase through his fingers halfway down his chest. He could have pulled his hair out in frustration. It had been a week since the Accident and he still hadn’t quite gotten used to the strange side effects that had all but taken over his day to day life. Broken glasses, fallen trousers, and accidental trips through the floor were the norm now and he barely had enough excuses to keep up with the disasters as they happened. He’d been banned from all practical lab experiments and ever handling anything breakable at school. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He knew lab safety and protocol better than any other student, but his recent mishap made him look like a clumsy, inexperienced kid just goofing off. 

His parents were furious about it. 

“Danny, we’re a family of  _ scientists _ ,” his mother implored while she started frying up the bacon for breakfast, “I’m not saying you have to be a scientist too, but there are expectations. Until you can show a bit more responsibility you’re not allowed down in the lab.”

He pretended to be upset about it. In truth, he was relieved. He hated going down in the lab now. Between the nightmares and the overwhelming sense of impending doom he felt every time he went downstairs, it was all he could do to put on an awkward smirk when his family asked him to “grab something” from there.

“Is there something you need to tell us?” his mother pressed on, “Don’t think we haven’t noticed you lately.”

“Noticed…?”

“You look like you’ve been tossed through the Fenton Blender a few times,” Jazz said unhelpfully from behind a book. “We’re seriously worried about you.”

“There’s no reason to be? I’m fine? I’ve just been staying up late studying.”

“That’s not what I heard from your teachers. Sleeping in class? Missed assignments?”

“That’s why I’m staying up late,” Danny insisted, “I’ve been trying to catch up.”

“You wouldn’t have to catch up if you tried harder.” His mother tried to reach out to him, but he shifted just enough to deflect the gesture. “We’ve been supportive of you with a lot of things, but we have to draw the line when it comes to your grades. If you don’t start doing better, there will be consequences.”

He could laugh at that. What could they possibly do? Ground him? Oh no, he couldn’t go to Nasty Burger, how awful. He tried to look upset by the news, which seemed to be well-received by his mom. Satisfied with her lecture, she went back to cooking breakfast. Jazz gave him an annoyed look, which he ignored.

“Jazz will drive you to school today to make sure you get there on time. No excuses.”

Danny rolled his eyes. Jazz did her best not to look pleased by the authority granted to her. His mom set out the bacon. Danny remained silent for the rest of the breakfast while his mom and sister talked about potential universities (“There’s just too many to pick from!”) After what felt like an eternity, Jazz got up and told him to be ready at the car in a few minutes. Danny left the table without finishing his food. He wasn’t really hungry anyway.

Jazz poked him for opinions about universities on the way to school. She was generally alright with answers like “hmm” and “mhm” and other general noises of noncommitment. They parked, Jazz escorted him to class, and Danny sat at his desk, distantly trying to absorb the information on the smartboard. The battle was lost less than a minute in after he found himself once more disappearing through his seat and through the floor. He doubted anyone had noticed even as he emerged into the classroom below. 

He was invisible, thankfully, and it only took a few moments of concentration to once more pull himself up and back into his proper classroom. He was at least getting better at that. The disappearing act seemed to happen whenever he lost focus and started to mentally drift. The figurative became literal then, much to his chagrin. 

“Hey, Danny?” 

Danny blinked and turned to look at the guy sitting next to him. Tucker. Gods, how long had it been since he’d heard him say his name?

“Did you need a pencil or--?”

Tucker shook his head. There was something strange in his expression that Danny couldn’t quite gather.

“Just...wondering if you’re alright? You look seriously messed up, man.”

“Kinda feel like death, not gonna lie.” Danny smirked. It felt good to joke about. Somehow it made it less real. “Just tired. You know how it is.”

“Playing that new MMO, right? I’ve been putting a ton of hours into it.”

This was new. Tucker hadn’t spoken with him about this sort of thing in years. Danny tried not to look too suspicious or confused. He kept his shoulders relaxed and the wry smile still on his face.

“Ah, not quite. I still need to buy it.”

And there it snapped. Tucker mentioned something about playing together if he ever got it, but Danny recognized the tone of dismissal. He wondered why Tucker had tried to talk to him in the first place. Did he really look that rough?

“Fuck, just ask him already if you can check out his parent’s stuff.”

Danny startled. The goth girl, Sam, was turned around in her seat, giving Tucker a bored look. When Tucker sheepishly mumbled the question Sam mentioned, she shook her head and looked to Danny.

“We want to see more of your parent’s lab. I thought the ghost stuff was bullshit, but over the past week--ever since that blackout? Shit’s been getting weird.”

“Weird?” Danny fought to keep his voice steady.

“With your parents, I’m surprised you haven’t noticed. You know how many people have been saying they’re being haunted or attacked by ghosts now? Just last week the lunch lady went screaming out of the cafeteria because she got ‘jumped’ by some ghost who was mad she changed the menu.”

“You’re joking. Look, I appreciate your attempt at a joke, but I know my parent’s work is crap.”

“She’s being serious,” Tucker pressed, “I’m guessing you don’t watch the news much?”

“Been busy.”

“If you had, you’d know this lunch lady ghost has been wreaking havoc all across town. Anywhere with a cafeteria and she’s been blowing it up.” Sam took out her phone and opened up a few windows before passing it over to him. “Listen, if this doesn’t stop, I’m screwed here. My parents will pull me out and send me to private school.”

So they needed him for what? A ghost hunt? Information? Since when had anyone actually believed in this stuff other than his mom and dad? Danny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Too bad for you, I’m banned from the lab now.”

“Too many dropped beakers?”

“Something like that. Look, why come to me? No offense, but until today you’ve never spoken to me, Sam.”

Sam shrugged. “I need help and you’re the only resource I have.”

At least she was honest. “Fair enough.” 

“Is there anything you can do? Maybe you have some files or--?”

“You could sneak into the lab?”

Sneak into the place he died? Sure, why not. Danny shuddered slightly, a cold chill running through his spine. A white mist puffed out before him.

“Damn, they really need to fix the AC in here,” Tucker said, noting the fog, “You should probably put on a jacket too. You’ve got some serious chills.”

“Yeah, and they’re multiplying.”

Sam and Tucker stared at him and Danny instinctively tried to make himself smaller. 

“Anyway...can you help us out or not?”

“I--” There was the sound of breaking mortar and an explosion to his left.

Danny covered his head and face as rubble went flying towards him, not that it mattered. He felt it phase right through it. As he came back to tangibility, he saw Sam and Tucker both cowering behind their desks staring towards the now shattered wall. Neither seemed to have noticed his sudden lack of form.

“SOMEONE CHANGED THE MENU!”

Danny looked up. No way. There was no way a lunch lady ghost was real.

But there she was, floating ominously before them with a halo of sausages, beef patties, and steaks spiraling around her. 

“I told you it was dumb to make a vegan menu!” Danny heard Tucker hiss.

The green lunch lady snapped her head towards the trio, her eyes now on Sam. “My dear, did you change the menu?”

Sam didn’t answer. The ghost’s eyes burst into green flames and she launched herself towards Sam.

“NO ONE CHANGES THE MENU!”

If someone asked him later, he’d say his legs moved on his own. Maybe it was because he felt like it was his job since his family dealt with ghosts. Maybe it had to do with two kids actually wanting to talk to him for a change. Or, maybe, it was because part of him felt like he was already dead, so what did it matter if he jumped in the way?

The ghost slammed into him and the two went through the floor, slamming to the ground below. She screamed at him and green saliva speckled his face. Her hand was too tight around his throat. Her weight on him was too much.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS! THIS IS MINE! MY MENU! MY HOME!”

She pressed into him. Spots danced in front of his eyes. He needed to breathe. Just a breath. She was crushing him.

Was he really going to die?  _ Again? _

Death. Something in him clicked. For the second time, blue rings appeared around his mid and then raced around him. His school clothes disappeared, revealing the inverted lab outfit he’d had on when he’d gone inside the portal. The ghost’s hands phased through his neck and Danny stumbled back, coughing as he tried to get air back into his lungs. Did he even need air as a ghost? He felt like he did. Maybe that was just an old habit though.

The ghost stared at him, the rage momentarily gone. “What...are you?”


	4. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: panic attack described in detail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot second, hasn't it? Sorry about that all. For once, life's busy has actually been positive. Since my last post I've moved and gotten a new job. I've also been working on figuring out some (good) mental health things and figuring out how to be more creative. Hopefully, I can get back into the habit of writing more frequently :) Cheers and love!

He should have felt relieved by the question--the ghost didn’t know what he was either. Instead, he felt his stomach squirm (did ghosts even have stomachs?).

“I--I don’t know, but that’s not the point right now,” Danny managed, “You need to stop hurting people over a menu!”

The red returned to the ghost’s eyes and she lunged for him again. “You can’t CHANGE THE MENU!”

He ducked out of the way, taking cover behind a desk. Whispers met his ears, phantom words that felt more like ideas and concepts on the edge of his conscious.

“mY h o m e. . . Can T TAKE. . . c h a n g e. em egnahc t'nac uoy. . .”

Danny clutched his head, trying to cover his ears, but the noise sunk its claws into his mind.

“You can’t just hurt people though!” Danny half shouted, half pleaded.

“But they’re hurting me!” Suddenly her face was right in front of his, eyes boring into him. 

Before Danny could move or respond, her hand shot through him, grabbing at something that was there, but shouldn’t have been. Ice ran through him and Danny gasped, unable to do so much as twitch a muscle. Distantly, he remembered hearing his parents talking about a ‘core’ that ghosts had, something that anchored their forms to reality. Their working theory for killing a ghost once and for all was to destroy the core. So far though, they’d never managed to see it outside of their equations and hypothesis. 

“He didn’t change the menu! I did!”

All at once, the string snapped. He toppled forward, just barely managing to catch himself before smacking his face into the linoleum tiles. Danny coughed and clutched at his chest with one hand, keenly aware of the deathly chill that continued to echo through to his skin. Someone grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up.

“We gotta move! Come on!”

“Tucker?” Danny gasped, finding his feet about three seconds too late.

Tucker had one hand around his waist, the other reaching desperately for the door. Across the classroom, Sam was bolting towards them. Her phone was out, recording the Lunch Lady as she screamed and rushed the trio.

They crossed the threshold and to Danny’s shock, the ghost seemingly smacked into the air. 

“SALT IS NOT ON THE MENU!” the ghost screamed, her hair rising up behind her with cuts of thick steak and lengths of ribs. 

Danny didn’t stop to debate or consider what had just happened. He grabbed onto Sam and held on tighter to Tucker before closing his eyes and allowing his thoughts to drift into a still calm. Opening his eyes a few moments later, the three hovered intangibly in the air on the roof of the building.

Danny chuckled a little, and then once more got to know what a cut marionette felt like. The rings opened around him and without warning, they plummeted to the ground. Luckily, they were only a few feet up, but that didn’t stop the squawks of surprise or the grunts of pain that followed their descent and collapse.

“Holy shit...holy fucking shit!” Sam whispered. “It’s a gas leak. I’m fucking high or--”

Danny didn’t hear whatever ‘or’ was or anything else for that matter. His vision greyed out and when it focused once more, he was aware of Sam and Tucker staring down at him with twin looks of concern. Tucker’s mouth moved and the words lagged into Danny’s ringing ears.

“--hear me? Dude, seriously, say something!”

“You don’t have to yell…” Danny grumbled.

“He’s not yelling? Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?”

“One. Your middle finger.”

“Cool, your eyes are working again too. Can you sit up?”

Danny tested it and found that limbs and muscle command worked just fine. His chest ached and the deep chill hadn’t subsided, but that wasn’t his primary concern at the moment.

“What the hell were you two thinking? That thing could have killed you and now you have a massive target on your head! Why’d you tell her you changed the menu are you stupid?”

Sam crossed her arms. “Gee, your welcome for saving your ass.”

“I...right. Sorry. Thank you...I…” Danny stopped. “Save me? Wait...you saved me. Shit, you just saw and…and...fuck...”

His breath hitched and his throat constricted. They knew. They saw everything. They saw him phase them through a ceiling and then they saw him change back. His vision started to tunnel and every thought became the one. They know. They know. They know.

“Breathe. Deep breaths dude.” Tucker rested to heavy hands on his shoulders. “Sam?”

“Tilt his head back a bit,” Danny faintly heard Sam saying, and then Tucker’s arms were around him, holding him and gently coaxing him to lean his head back onto his shoulder.

“We saw, yes,” he heard Sam continue, “And yeah, it’s freaky whatever the hell just happened but you kind of saved us too so? Just calm down. We’re not going to hurt you or anything.”

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed, “We’re definitely freaked out, but…”

“But,” Sam continued for him, “We’re not going to tell anyone. Promise.”

They didn’t say anything else for a while, not until Danny’s breath evened out and he was able to rest his head more naturally. 

“Better?”

A small nod, and he sat up, pulling out of Tucker’s arms. “Sorry…”

“For what? Having an understandable freakout? You just got attacked by a ghost and...whatever that was. What was that?”

Tucker glared at Sam for the last bit, but then his curiosity got the better of him and he gave Danny a quirked brow.

“I don’t know,” Danny answered honestly. 

“Did she do that to you? It looked like she was trying to suck your soul out or something when we came in.”

“Is your chest alright?” 

Sam reached out to start pulling up his shirt and Tucker’s hand flashed, grabbing onto her wrist.

“The hell Tuck?”

“You can’t just pull up a guy’s shirt!”

For the first time in years, Danny felt a wave of gratitude for his once friend. They’d been in 6th grade when Danny first came out to Tucker as non-binary. As luck would have it, most of the kids they’d gone to elementary school with didn’t move onto the same middle school or high school, so no one questioned Danny’s choice of pronouns or the new haircut that came with them.

“You want us to turn around?” Tucker asked.

Danny nodded and Tucker pulled Sam’s shoulder to turn her away while Danny tugged up his shirt and gingerly pulled his binder away from his skin. Even without moving that, he could see the spidering bruised veins running from his core up towards his collar. He hissed and let his shirt fall once more.

“It’s bruised, but I’ll live. Just kind of cold right now.” 

The two turned around once more, concern bleeding onto their faces. Before they could question him further, Danny pressed,

“So how did you stop the ghost anyway?”

Tucker pointed to Sam, “Her idea.”

“Well, witches use salt for purification and stuff, right? So why not stopping ghosts?” Sam shrugged.

“We should probably get moving,” Tucker suggested slowly, “In case the ghost follows.”

“Can we hide out at your place?” Sam pressed, looking a bit too eager, “Since your parents _are_ ghost hunters.”

Danny tensed. Ghost hunters and he was a ghost...part ghost...something. Sam had a point though and Danny suspected she had self-preservation on the mind. He gave a small nod and got carefully to his feet. They wobbled a little under him, but he steadied himself before Tucker could reach to help.

“If my mom asks, you guys are helping me catch up on my homework.”

“We’re not going to tell them? That ghost looked like it was killing you or turning you into one or...I don’t know! Something!”

Danny paused. They thought that the ghost had done that to him? If they hadn’t seen him transform the first time and just assumed it was the ghost’s doing to begin with, maybe they thought he was better now. 

“They’d just make things worse,” Danny grumbled, “I know where they keep their ghost hunting stuff and I know which stuff actually works and doesn’t set your hair on fire.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.”

The matter was settled and the group cautiously made their way off of the roof, down the stairwell, and out of the school. Danny kept his head down, trying not to worry about the mist still billowing from his mouth with each exhale. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note on Danny's gender identity. In this AU, Danny is non-binary and uses he/him pronouns. I think I always sort of considered him nb because that's how I read him (and wanted to be like him) when I watched this show as a kid. I know other folks have different headcanons, but this is how I've always seen and related to him.
> 
> I also like to think that his parents are ok with it and so was Tucker because we already have enough negative shit going on in the world and in this au we don't need to add that to the mix, you know?


End file.
